An interesting divided judgment of the Full Court of the Federal Court of Australia has considered the non-justiciability of political questions and the decision in Buttes Gas [1982] AC 888.

The appellant was a PNG national who sought joinder as a party to an Australian native title claim over an area in the Torres Strait abutting PNG. The respondents successfully opposed that joinder at first instance because of a concern that the appellant would use the proceedings to agitate political matters concerning the maritime boundaries treaty between Australia and PNG. Significantly, the Australian government did not oppose the joinder so long as those political questions were not raised.

Gyles J, with whom Sundberg J agreed, allowed the appeal and held that the appellant should have been joined. Gyles J held that:

The appellant does not need to put any argument based upon the [political issues] to establish his interests for the purposes of the case. The docket judge can control the proceeding to prevent truly irrelevant or inappropriate arguments or material being advanced by a party. Counsel for the Commonwealth indicated that there should be no problem if the case is approached along those lines. The Commonwealth should be in a good position to judge that situation. … An appropriate term could have been constructed imposing conditions upon a grant of leave to be joined.

Kiefel J dissented. Her Honour summarised the non-justiciability principle as being that “negotiations and agreements between Australia and another country are not to be the subject of judicial determination for the reason that they might cause embarrassment and affect relations between the countries.” Although the Australian government was not actually “embarrassed” by the potential joinder, her Honour considered that “it is the nature of the question for the Court which renders it non-justiciable”, and not the presence of actual embarrassment.